Do not have a PlayStation but interested in playing PlayStation games? Try a PlayStation software emulator.

A software emulator allows computer programs to run on platforms other than the one for which they were originally written for. There are several emulators for PlayStation. A few of them are ePSXe, pSX, Bleem!.

Bleem! was one of the commercial PlayStation emulators. It could execute a few games but however could not run all the commercial games available

pSX is a little different from the modern emulators since it does not use plugins for graphics, sound and controller. However it requires a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) for it's execution

ePSXe is the best free PlayStation emulator available. It requires plugins for Graphics, Controller, Sound, CD-ROM. Further it requires a BIOS for it's execution. This emulator is worth the effort, it's plays almost every commercial game available in the market. Personally, I tried games like Tekken 3, Monkey Magic, Spider-Man 2 and they worked perfectly in this emulator

One of the hiccups of obtaining a working PlayStation emulator is finding a BIOS since the websites with these emulators do not provide it because of legal issues. So a little effort and search is to be put in for this.

Emulators for PlayStation and other consoles can be obtained in many sites. Emulator Zone is one of them. Download the requirements and configure your emulator properly to get things up and running.

Monday, October 23, 2006

We all like to play games, but do we know how they are made? A game is basically created using a game engine. Game engines initially arose in 1990s in connection with the 3D games such as Unreal and Doom. A game engine was created for these games and on these game engines, other developers created their own games.

Eg. Half-Life and Counter-Strike have similarities since they were created by the same game engine. A game engine is a library of 3D graphics functions. It consists of multiple editors like -

A Level Editor is used to design the 2D/3D world for the game

A Model Editor is used to design the game characters

A Scripting Editor is used to write scripts(code) for the game

An AI Editor is used to create intelligent opponent characters

Professionals use several game engines like Blitz, Nabula, Crystal Space, Cipher, Torque, Jupiter, etc. Advanced game engines such Unreal Engine 3, Doom 3 Engine are used for creating First Person Shooters (FPS) and game engines like Gamebyro are used for Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG).

For game designers the knowledge of C/C++ and DirectX is very important. Further they should be able to

This is the new section of my blog. Every week I will add a few words with their meanings and an example for their usage. They can be utilized for many of the competitive exams. Hope you all find it useful.

It's a fine sunny day in the forest and a lion is sitting outside his cave lying lazily in the sun. Along comes a fox out on a walk.

Fox: "Do you know the time? Because my watch is broken"Lion: "Oh, I can easily fix the watch for you"Fox: "Hmm... But it's a very complicated mechanism and your big claws will only destroy it even more"Lion: "Oh no, give it to me, and it will be fixed"Fox: "That's ridiculous! Any fool knows that lazy lions with great claws cannot fix complicated watches"Lion: "Sure they do, give it to me and it will be fixed"

The lion disappears into his cave, and after a while he comes back with the watch which is running perfectly. The fox is impressed, and the lion continues to lie lazily in the sun, looking very pleased with himself. Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the lazy lion in the sun.

Wolf: "Can I come and watch TV tonight with you because mine is broken"Lion: "Oh, I can easily fix your TV for you"Wolf: "You don't expect me to believe such rubbish, do you? There is no way that a lazy lion with big claws can fix a complicated TV"Lion: "No problem. Do you want to try it?"

The lion goes into his cave, and after a while comes back with a perfectly fixed TV. The wolf goes away happily and amazed.

Scene: Inside the lion's cave. In one corner are half a dozen small and intelligent looking rabbits who are busily doing very complicated work with very detailed instruments. In the other corner lies a huge lion looking very pleased with himself.

Moral: If you want to know why a manager is famous; look at the work of his subordinates.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

This topic is related to one of the most important things of computers - Backups. It's always advisable to take backups of your important data as a computer is always at the risk of losing data because of viruses, crashes, etc. Further while upgrading between Operating Systems, it's important to take backup of our critical data.

There are several devices for taking backups such CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, USB Drives, etc. A typical USB drive of 1GB comes at around Rs.1500 which is a good investment for storing data. However this is generally used for a temporary backup.

For a permanent backup, we can use CDs and DVDs. Also Rewritable CDs and DVDs are available but they cost more than the Non-Rewritable ones. For larger backups, we can even store the entire hard disk. This is generally used in offices where such backups are required.

Before I conclude I would like to know how many of you take Backups. Please send in your comments.

About Me

I have done my Engineering from Osmania University and am currently working as a Senior Software Developer at McGraw-Hill Financials. I previously worked as a Technical Evangelist (Campus Ambassador) at Sun Microsystems while I was doing my Engineering.